On to Thailand

Wendy was kind enough to drive us out to the new train station in Laos. It turns out that is is further out of town than the Friendship Bridge.  We were expecting it to be conveniently located in the city, but it is miles off the main road, far from anything. 

There was an unexpected exit fee which most tourists were surprised by. This caused a lot of commotion as people explained that they had no Lao currency. 

The train itself has only two cars and there was no need for a public address system. The conductor could invite us all individually to board the train.

The train is operated by the Thai railway authority, so really not very Lao. There were very few people joining us in this adventure. But for 75 cents it was worth the ticket. (Although the exit fee was double that).

We still enjoyed crossing the bridge on railway tracks that had been unused the entire time we lived in Laos.

On the other side we went through immigration easily and were then familiar with the Thai side. Phyllis is posing where she broke her foot. Part of the healing process.

The train was newly painted on the outside, but the same on the inside as seven years ago.

We had three upper berths in second class air. A real trip down memory lane. We slept pretty well. We arrived in Bangkok at 5:30 in the morning and informed our hostess that we had arrived and were heading to her apartment in a few minutes.